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Alinghi goes back to basics to prepare for America's Cup

Members of the BMW Oracle Racing team sail a catamaran in Valencia, Spain, on Feb. 8. PHOTO: EPA

Alinghi is going back to basics in preparations for its America's Cup duel against BMW Oracle Racing.

The Swiss syndicate traveled to France on Tuesday to begin training with French skipper Alain Gautier, a week after a New York judge ruled Alinghi must race the American challenger in the next edition of the event.

Gautier will teach Alinghi sailors and designers about the basic functions of trimarans, starting yesterday at the French port city of Lorient, off the Brittany coast.

"Most of us are keel yacht sailors and have limited experience on multihulls, particularly large multihulls, so this is an important step in our learning process, to understand and to race a multihull yacht," Alinghi design team coordinator Grant Simmer said. "Alain's expertise and experience will be hugely valuable to the team."

Gautier is one of the most respected sailors in France after winning the around-the-world Vendee Globe race in 1992 and the Solitaire du Figaro in 1989. Ellen MacArthur was a pupil of Gautier in 2002, three years before she sailed solo around the world in a trimaran with a then record time of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, 33 seconds.

"I believe I can bring both sailing know-how and technical knowledge," Gautier said. "I have no doubt of the team's ability to design a fearsome machine."

Alinghi will work with the Frenchman aboard his trimaran Foncia, which has been sailing since 2002.

As far as Alinghi is concerned, BMW Oracle Racing already has the advantage for the multihull face-off, which will be sailed in either October or July next year.

Alinghi favors racing next year since it still needs to build a 27m multihull yacht. BMW Oracle Racing, backed by Silicon Valley tycoon Larry Ellison, has already started building but won't say whether it's a catamaran or a trimaran.

The two syndicates were to meet yesterday at Alinghi's home yacht club -- the Societe Nautique Geneve (SNG) in Geneva, Switzerland -- to start hashing out the details for the 33rd edition of sport's oldest competition, which will be decided in a special best-of-three match race for the second time in history.

"The most crucial point for our discussion is the date. When we have a realistic date we can start proceedings to secure a location and set the stage for the regatta," SNG vice commodore Fred Meyer said in a statement.

"As we have made clear we are not in a position to race this year because we always understood that tolling would take place during the legal proceedings," Meyer said. "Furthermore, we have not started construction of our boat and will not be ready to compete this year."

The Golden Gate Yacht Club, home of BMW Oracle Racing, won a lawsuit against SNG that contended it unfairly tried to rig the rules for the next regatta. The Americans displaced a Spanish syndicate as the official challenger of record.

Alinghi, backed by biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, retained the America's Cup with a 5-2 win over Team New Zealand last July.

In the other court-mandated ruling, New Zealand's giant 27m challenger was outclassed by Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes catamaran off San Diego in 1988.
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